Number of missing people in Minas Gerais goes up

Fire Department announced a new number of missing people after the dams collapsed. There are 19 missing people, 13 workers of the mining company Samarco and six Bento Rodrigues residents. Before that, the information was that 13 people were missing.

"We have reports of people who have witnessed other people being carried by mud flows. Another one knew where the person was, which machine he/she was working on, and since the machine had been engulfed, this person was missing. We are working based on these reports," said the Fire Department's Lieutenant André Vitti, in an interview to Rádio Nacional (EBC broadcast).

Before the destruction scenario, the lieutenant stated that many people managed to leave the area after they were informed about the failure of the dams. "Certainly, had we not had this information, we would have hundreds of missing people because Bento Rodrigues village has been completely devastated," he reported.

"At the moment I saw the avalanche, my sister shouted. I was tidying up the kitchen. I looked up, I saw a shower of dust. When I looked again, I saw the avalanche of mud," reported the housewife Teresinha Custódio Quintão, 49, who lived all her life at the village striked by the tragedy. The moment the dams burst, she was at the kitchen of the restaurant where she worked with her sister.

The bricklayer Marcos Eufrásio Messias, 38, lived in Bento Rodrigues village since he was born. He lived with his mother, brothers and two nephews. He raised chicken, duck, and quail. As he reports, he had built his life. But lost everything after two dams collapsed in the area and mud destroyed the village.

"I had a house right here at the center," he reported, pointing to a bunch of mud and dirt. "We managed to leave [the village] in time, but I lost my car, documents, bank cards. Everything. We only saved our lives. Besides that, there's nothing left."

Fundão and Santarém dams belonging to Samarco mining company burst on Thursday afternoon (Nov. 5), and flooded the area with mud, solid waste and water residue from mining operations.

Translated by Amarílis Anchieta